


Otabek Altin, god of victory

by classicpleistocene



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, I made myself cry with this ffs, M/M, Otabek is the god of victory, based on what Kubo said in an interview, boi that interview fucked me up for life, otabek is a god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10037549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classicpleistocene/pseuds/classicpleistocene
Summary: "It started to seem to me that back then, Otabek was the god of victory in the tournament, and maybe Yurio was loved by that god, it occurred to me, as I was drawing the storyboards."-Mitsurou Kubo





	

**Author's Note:**

> **VERY IMPORTANT EDIT:** Just when I thought I was starting to get over what Kubo said ( ~~I mean let's be real I never will~~ ), **[this beautiful fanart](https://twitter.com/rainlikestars/status/839051707984162816)** came out and I found it fit perfectly in this little work of mine  <3 thousands of thanks to Shino for allowing me to link this here ♥
> 
> So I don't know if you guys heard, but [this translation of the latest interview that Kubo released](https://twitter.com/Aki_the_geek/status/836945312702849029) fucked me up A LOT. Of course it's not to be taken literally (especially the god of victory part), but I couldn't help myself and my feelings and gave birth to this thing.
> 
> I wrote it in a hurry, I have no beta, English isn't my first language, etc, etc, but I still hope you enjoy.
> 
> Now [available in Italian](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10684212) as well.
> 
> Find me on Twitter: [@cl_pleistocene](https://twitter.com/cl_pleistocene)  
> Or [on Tumblr](https://aftgonice.tumblr.com/)  
> 

Once upon a time, the god of victory was made a mortal for the length of one human lifespan, so that he may better understand the forces he was playing with: win and loss.

His human form was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Earth, and grew up as a normal human boy. His being a god was part of him, a knowledge taking up no more headspace than the fact that he liked spinach, or that the Sun rises in the east.

He couldn’t tell anyone who he really was, but every time he saw someone praying for something, he itched to tell them that that’s not how things worked.

Being a god didn’t mean that you listened to who prayed the loudest, or that you only blessed the most deserving. You were simply _there_ to make sure that the world went on in an eternal chase of win and loss, and while you were the _energy_ that made it all happen, you, as a god, could never experience it for yourself.

That’s why Otabek Altin, this was the god of victory’s human name, was allowed to live and interact with humans. He had no true power over their, or his, wins and losses, and even when he started figure skating the other gods weren’t worried about him. There were no rules to break, thus he couldn’t break them to win, or to let a loved one win, or someone he hated lose.

Competing in a sport was one of his tasks on the Earth, and it wasn’t long before he started understanding what it meant to win and lose. He started skating later than kids normally do, and he was behind. He felt shame, but was determined to taste both victory and loss for himself, no matter how hard he had to work.

When he was sent to a novice class at a Russian coach’s summer camp, he experienced his first true loss.

He looked into the green eyes of a soldier, younger than him, more determined than him, and he lost a piece of himself.

That’s when he understood that _loss_ had many meanings, and that it could sometimes be bitter-sweet.

Every time he found those eyes again, on online news or on Instagram feeds, his ache sharpened, and it was all he could do to keep getting better, so that he may again gaze into those eyes and try to _win_.

Yuri Plisetsky had his senior debut earlier than Otabek Altin had anticipated, and when he finally met him again at a Barcelona hotel, he couldn’t bring himself to talk to him.

It wasn’t until the next day that he finally did, urged by a feeling of protectiveness, and brought Yuri where they could talk alone.

He didn’t know how to start at first, and then the words just flooded out of him. He told him about Yakov’s summer camp, about his eyes that had captured such an essential part of himself. If Yuri understood the true meaning behind his words, he didn’t show it.

That was fine, Otabek thought. He had lived an eternity without knowing love and life and loss, and a few months, a few years, were nothing to him. And even if after so long he could never have Yuri’s heart (for that was what he so desperately needed, he realized), he could still support him and be his friend, if Yuri wanted him to.

And Yuri did. He took his hand in his and formed an unbreakable bond, one only Otabek fully understood, his _god_ part being more sensitive to such energy flows.

All that bond meant for Yuri, for now, was that he let an endless stream of words fall on Otabek, who hadn’t waited for anything else for five years. And as he cherished every word of it, every smile that from Yuri’s lips reached those unforgettable eyes, a new need was born within himself, one he of all people, of all _gods_ , knew he had no power over.

_What good is it to be a god if I can’t make Yuri win?_

For he knew that’s what Yuri needed, and all Otabek wanted was for him to win. And he understood why he didn’t have that power, because it was selfish to want Yuri to win just so he could keep seeing him _smile_.

Just so he could see him truly happy, and know that _he_ had made it happen, until Yuri allowed him to make him happy in other ways.

Otabek Altin begged the other gods, his siblings, to grant him this power just once, but he knew it was useless. Yuri would have to win on his own, and Otabek could only watch.

***

Later, when Yuri did win, and Otabek felt the invisible threads of _win_ and _loss_ wrap around them both, he finally understood.

Otabek wasn’t the reason Yuri had won, but he was the last piece of a puzzle that Yuri started putting together even before meeting him. Otabek wasn’t Yuri’s first friend, after all, but he was the first Yuri had dared call _friend,_ and all of that helped him reach his _agape_ , which in turn helped him reach the gold medal he so desperately wanted.

That was the biggest, but not the last, lesson in _win_ and _loss_ that the god of victory learned.

There were many more during his mortal time, and almost all of them involved Yuri.

Yuri, who could never know who Otabek really was, but who once called him his biggest inspiration since that day in Barcelona.

Yuri, who gave him his heart after years of friendship and made him the happiest human.

Yuri, who made the god of victory forever think of himself as Otabek Altin, even after his mortal time expired and he was once again only a god, but a god who had lived and won and lost.


End file.
